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Nonprofit groups and businesses have launched programs to help inmates better prepare for life and a career outside the walls of a prison with the goal of nurturing productive citizens and reducing recidivism rates.

Defining “outsider art” isn’t easy — the term encompasses work by self-taught artists and the artwork of the developmentally disabled — but its popularity is soaring. In Sacramento, Short Center North’s art program is one example.

Breweries say the clubs are a good way to compete in the expanding marketplace because they encourage repeat customers. Customers have the option to pay a flat rate for a stainless steel canteen and a predetermined number of refills.

Artist Shane Grammer knew he had to paint the brick chimney the moment he saw a photo of it — the only part of a friend’s house in Paradise still standing after the Camp Fire devastated the town. The fire started tearing through the area on Nov. 8, 2018, becoming the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history.

As they say, timing is everything. I’m writing this on the one-year anniversary of the death of Stephon Clark, an unarmed African American man who was shot by two Sacramento police officers in his grandmother’s backyard.

Angela Tannehill considers herself lucky. Although the Elk Grove-based graphic designer of more than 26 years earned her bachelor’s degree in fine arts, she only began working as an artist a few years ago, and now her mixed-media work is drawing the attention of private art collectors, art consultants and public-art project organizers.

Jazmine Bonnett, owner of Blossom Bathhouse, works at a brisk pace. If she doesn’t quickly finish her bubble bath bars, the ingredients harden and become unsalvageable. A batch takes 30 minutes to make and yields about 20 individual scoops, which sell for $8.95 each.